Electric display apparatus.



.I. P. NAYLOR.

ELECTRIC DISPLAY APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OOTJS, 1913. 1,087,044. Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

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INVENTOR WITNESSES JAMES PRIE L NAYLOR BY C.

M ATTO J. P. NAYLOR.

ELECTRIC DISPLAY APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.6, 1913.

1,087,044. Patented Feb. 10, 191A 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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JAMES PRIESTNALL NAYLOR, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

ELECTRIC DISPLAY APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1 0, .1 914.

Application filed October 6, 1918. Serial No. 793,713.

To all'whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES PRIESTNALL NAYLOR, a subject of the King of England, residing at London, in England, have invented a certain new and useful Electric Display Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification. v

This invention relates to electric advertising or signaling apparatus in which letters or signs are exhibited by suitable arrangement of a plurality of certain elemental portions including electric lamps and hereinafter termed elements upon a panel or background, and consists in the novel features, and arrangements and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being directed to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a diagram of a panel with parallel hcompensating resistances and a locking plate hereinafter described and method of interlocking same with such resistances. Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a modification of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a partial plan of the apparatus, showing a portion of the interior; Fig. 4 is a partial horizontal transverse section on the line IVIV of Fig. 3; Fig. is a partial vertical transverse section showing parts in section and other parts in elevation; and Fig. 6 is a section illustrating a further method of mounting the element.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 illustrate parts of a solid panel and an element giserted therein suitable for daylight as well as night display. A represents an electric incandescent lamp, B a tubular extension of or an addition to the lamp cap, connected with one end of the filament, C is a tubular section of insulating material inserted in the tube B, and D is a smaller concentric conductor passing down the insulated tube C and connected to the opposite end of the lamp filament, such vmember having a conducting ball or enlargement E attached to its end. The said lamp A hasva circular plate F which may carry a translucent globe or cover F attached to its cap, such circular plate F being preferably of dissimilar color or material to the monogram panel G, so as to form the daylight member, and the said lamp plate,

lamp cap, and concentric connection members collectively form the element. \(Vhen the surface of the panel G is continuous 6t there may be located behind the said panel G a metallic conductive plate H having holes punched therein to admit the stalk B of the lamp and provided with resilient contacting sections H Spaced behind the said plate H and insulated therefrom is a second conductive plate I provided with resilient tongues I to contact with and re tain the ball E. It is obvious that the element may be easily Withdrawn from the face of the apparatus by hand manipulation of the visible portion, and when it is desired to put such element in position it can be done by simply pressing the lamp. or elementstalk B into the aperture N in the monogram panel G, when the resilient tongues H and I contact respectively with the concentric conductors B and D, thus placing the lamp in electrical connection with the two conducting plates H and I, and if said plates H and I are connected with a source of electricity the lamp A will be illuminated, and if the said plates are discon nected from a source of electricity the lamp will not be illuminated, the said contact fingers will tend by friction to retain the lamp and element in its position. To prevent unauthorized removal of the elements, a locking plate K is provided having a plurality of suitably placed key-hole slots L therein as illustrated in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. These have enlarged ends M to pass over the balls E and reduced necks to engage the rods D.

The method of conducting electricity to the elements illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 90 is suitable for working with electric lampm connected in parallel, but it may be desirable to use low candle power lamps of such size and constructed to work upon low voltage rendering them unsuitable to be"- con- 95 nected in parallel directly across the mains 'of electric supplycompanies owing to the pressure of such supply being greater than the lamps are constructed to operate upon. I may therefore connect a number of said panels in series but with such an arrangement the lamps will then be in serie' parallel, whereby a variation inthe number of lamps upon the panels would cause said panels are connected in this manner it is necessary to provide each panel with a resistance also connected in parallel capable of compensating for the difference between the minimum and maximum number of lamps so that when" letters are formed with few lamps resistance may be inserted between the conductors feeding the plates to such an extent as to com ensa-te for the variations in the number of amps so as to keep the total resistance of the panel constant.

The meansby which the guard plate is interlocked with a resistance for the purpose previously described is illustrated by Figs. 2, 3 and 5, wherein K represents the guard plate, L M being the apertures provided for locating the element stalks. O is a simple form of lock-consisting of a disk rotatable upon a pivot O eccentrically placed so that when for example, a square key is inserted into an aperture 0 in the said eccentric piece and-rotated it will cause the guard plate K to travel in guides K so as to permit the larger portions M of the perforations L M to register with the front plate. Before the key can be inserted in the lock 0 it is necessary to operate the sliding guard P which is coupled to the resistances R, by means of a member Q, having a contact piece Q}. There is also provided a resilient contact member or spring T arranged to engage a conductor W connected to the resistances R so that when the lock 0 is operated to lock the guard plate K, the spring 'I is depressed to make contact with conductor W, the spring T being in electrical connection with the wire U connected to a source of electricity Z, the electric circuit being (when the guard is locked) from the wire U through the contact member T to the conductor WV through the resistances R, which are in parallel with the lamps, and the sliding contacting piece Q to the member Q through the conductor S and Wire V to the opposite pole of a source of electricity. \Vhen the lock 0 is operated to bring the plate K into a position to permit the elements to be released, the contact T is opened thus interrupting the electrical circuit. The sliding guard P set in guides P is provided to pass over or obstruct the aperture 0 into which the key of the lock is in serted so that the full resistance R must first be inserted in the circuit before the lockcan be opened to release the lamps, the turning of the lock 0 breaking the circuit between T and W, and it is necessary to bring the guard plate K into the locked position before the circuit can again be closed. As it is not possible to construct a monogrammic field of lamps upon centers such as to permit all letters of the alphabet to be formed by the utilization of the same number of elements or centers while at the same time retaining a similar appearane'tfof the said lamps or letters, the resistance R is graduated so that it is capable of compensating all combinations of lamps forming letters and numerals, and the sliding guard P is provided With a pointer X and there are marked upon the face of the monogram panel by means of a scale Y various letters of th alphabet in such order that when the pointer X indicates a given letter the correct amount of resistance R is inserted between the wire U and the sliding contact piece Q Thus, assuming the letter B to require the greatest number of lamps, no resistance will be inserted when this letter is formed and the pointer moved to the extreme left to indicate B. requires the fewest elements for its formation so that it will be necessary for a larger number of resistances to be inserted when this figure is being displayed, or if it is desired to display a single element, as for example a full stop, a yet greater number of resistances would have to be inserted than for the formation of the number 1. Again, when it is desired to keep one panel blank but to use it in electrical connection with others parallel resistances equal to the maximum letter B should be inserted so that at all times the resistance of the panel is constant. The order in which the letters of the alphabet are placed upon the scale may be in the order of the number of lamps utilizedfor their formation, by which means it will be possible to bring a pointer oppo site the letter required, in order to insert the correct amount of resistance without passing over contacts that might allow the lamps to be exposed to excessive current which might cause damage to them. By this means the lamps illuminating the elements forming the letters will not be overrun or underrun, and the setting up of the letters and the grouping of the lamps and elements can be performed by an unskilled person by first cutting in all resistance and then interrupting the circuit (a necessary operation before the elements can be withdrawn), then arranging the elements to form the desired letter, locking the guard plate K, and then The figure l operating the lock guard P until the pointer series so that all lamps and connections feeding a panel may form one simple series or more than one series known as multiple series. In this case the construction shown in Fig. 2 is used which is very similar to that shown in Fig. 1 with the exception that the lamps upon the individual panel are in series in which case the parts X, I Q and R are so arranged that resistance is added to the circuit, as shown in Fig. 2, and the element contacts S short circuit where the lamp is withdrawn, as shown in Fig. 6. In order to make this arrangement practicable with a simple series it is necessary to construct the lamp contact fingers so that after or during the withdrawal of any lamp, the circuit may be maintained, due to the said contact fingers being permitted to contact one with the other. \Vith a series of electric lamps in operation, the removal of one from the circuit would cause the remainder of the series to be extinguished and without the short circuiting device it would not be possible to arrange and rearrange a number of elements upon a monogram to form a letter or sequence of dissimilar letters requiring varying numbers of elements or lamps because when a letter is formed upon a monogram panel, there are always some centers or sockets unoccupied so that without theshort circuiting contact these positions would constitute a discontinuity or interruption of the circuit, and the insertion of a lamp in an unoccupied position will separate the contacts so that the current must then flow through the lamp filament. This construction is illustrated in detail in Fig. 6, where G represents part of the face of the monogram panel, 6 the aperture in which the stalk of the element is inserted, H and I two resilient contacts arranged to contact respectively with the sections B and E of the element, wheninserted in the aperture N the said contacts being fed by electric conductors P and Q which are connected to similar contacts upon the monogram panel so that the whole of the resilient contacts H and I are connected in electrical series. Now when the portion B D E, of the element is inserted in the aperture N as shown in Fig. 6, the contact H is lifted so that it ceases to engage the contact I and the lamp filament is then inserted in the circuit. With this arrangement, if due care is not exercised it would be possible by removing too many lamps at the same time when withdrawing the elements to expose some lamps to an excessive current due to increased voltage or by removing all lamps to establish a short circuit upon the mains feeding a monogram and thus burn out or destroy part of the ap;

paratus or circuits leading thereto. In order to provide against this I utilize the locking plate K (Fig. 2) as a guard and so connect up the wire S with the lamp contacts (here denoted by S. S.) that when the lock guard P, is closed to prevent the withdrawal of the lamps, the circuit is made and when it (the plate K) is opened to permit the withdrawal of the lamps the circuit leading to the lamp contacts S is interrupted, the sliding resistance then being utilized to increase the ohmic resistance of the circuit.

\Vhen a number of electric lamps are connected in series and one of the filaments of the said lamps is burned out or broken so as to open the circuit it frequently requires careful inspection of each lamp in order to locate the one in which the defect has occurred. The process of locating a defective lamp is simplified by the provision of the shortv circuiting contacts S, S, combined with the resistance R, as by this means it is easily possible to locate the defective lamp by first inserting suflicient resistance in circuit with all the sockets, then removing the lamps one by one until the remainder glow more or less brightly, the last lamp removed before the remaining lamps glow being the defective one. When the last lamp to be removed from the monogram is a defective one there will not be this indication but as the lamps are replaced in the monogram they will if perfect, glow (provided the proper connection is established in the monogram panel circuit) and the insertion of a lamp which is open circuited will cause all the lamps that had previously been glowing to cease to glow, thus indicating that the last lamp to be inserted was a defective one, which may then be replaced by a perfect lamp, the resistance if independently operatable then being adjusted as previously described.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:-

1. In electric display apparatus, the combination of a panel or support, contacts carried thereby, detachable display elements including electric lamps having parts adapted to engage said contacts, a member adapted to lock all said elements to the panel or support, circuit connections to said contacts including a resistance, means for shifting said locking member, and means whereby before said locking member can be moved to unlocking position the resistance is inserted in the circuit.

2. In electric display apparatus, the combination of a panel or support, contacts carried thereby, detachable display elements including electric lamps having parts adapted to engage said contacts, whereby the number of said display elements on said panel or support may be varied, a locking member for said elements, circuit connections to said contacts including a variable resistance, means for shifting said locking member, and simultaneously throwing the display elements into and out of circuit, a scale having positions marked thereon corresponding to the number of display elements in circuit on the panel or support, and a sliding member to adjust said variable resistance and having a pointer coacting with said scale whereby the correct degree of resistance may be voluntarily inserted for any given number of display elements in circuit. 10

In witness whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES PRIESTNALL NAYLOR. Witnesses:

O. J. WORTH, W. E. ROGERS. 

